Storytelling and reviews about the artists and trends that define the sounds of the Lone Star State
Once San Antonio’s elite took pride in their support of the city’s fine symphony. When the cream of that elite, the Symphony Society board, abruptly canceled the upcoming season, it was time for some soul-searching
In the late seventies, celebrated pianist Van Cliburn inexplicably disappeared from public life. No tortured artist in hiding, Cliburn is having the time of his life sitting around his Fort Worth mansion in his bathrobe.
A good record store is more than just a supermarket of sound.
From Houston’s Miss Molly to San Antonio’s Claude Morgan, Texas is full of local music heroes. Does their road to success have to pass through Austin?
On LPs spurred by the MTV limelight, Timbuk3 blends street beast with witty wordplay, the True Believers combine six-string moxie with striving vocals, and the Tail Gators pack a sonic wallop.
Don Williams won’t do beer commercials, sign autographs, or sing in honk-tonks. If that means he isn’t a superstar, that’s fine with him.
Thank God I’m sort of a grown-up.
Dallas’ new late-night club scene is daring and diverse, a showcase for pioneering bands.
North Texas bands face a tough choice: living to make music or making music for a living.
Charlie Sexton. Austin’s guitar-playing boy wonder, is now dream fodder for the masses; Eric Johnson is our latest contender for guitar hero.
New records from Texas bands have only one thing in common—stubborn individuality.
Tuff Enuff, the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ fifth and finest album, has a snap, crackle, and pop that could finally make the T-Birds explode.
The small-town orchestra has it all: performers who love the music passionately, audiences who lend their wholehearted support, and even occasional moments when all the instruments are playing the right note.
Five new albums show that Texans can get any kind of music they want from local labels.
In a mixed-up world, mixed-up kids need somebody who really understands. In Dallas that somebody is a punk DJ called Shaggy.
A producing career, a hit video, a record company, successful sound tracks: Austin’s Patrick Keel is having it all.
Brave Combo’s World Dance Music brings wit and verve to an unlikely mix of sounds; the Sir Douglas Quartet is still recording after all these years.
“Herd It Through the Grapevine,” a new disc anthology, has the top of the pop crop.
The fare offered by the Houston Pops Orchestra may not be highbrow, but conductor Ned Battista thinks it’s American music at its best.
Bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan showcases his powerhouse guitar on a nationally released record. Also on new LPs are fellow Texans, from country king George Jones to Austin cutups the Big Boys.
Austin blueswoman Angela Strehli is an enigma, but there’s no secret to her success: she writes great material and sings it with unbeatable style.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds storm away on a new album that shows why they’re Texas’ hardiest rhythm and blues band. Eight more releases capture everything from mandolin picking to Balinese monkey chants.
Texas’ greatest rural sheriff, oddest permutation of democracy, unlikeliest punk heroes, and hottest airline dogfight.
The bright-eyed, pink-cheeked cream of Texas youth aren’t scrambling on the football field. They’re playing in the high school band.
Johnny Copeland had to abandon his Gulf Coast home and head for New York City before he could make hi mark with the blues.
George Jones really lives the way he says he lives in the songs he sings.
A dozen new releases by everyone from the late, legendary Janis Joplin to rising star Rodney Crowell to perennial favorite Waylon Jennings.
Texas music is wide open these days. You can stand by old standbys like Willie or take a chance on nuclear polka and Caribbean funk.
Four performers in Dallas are making a new kind of music that combines precision, grace, and crazy humor.
Half a dozen Texas bands rev up and rock out.
Why knock yourself out for two grueling weeks at a piano competition in Fort Worth? For $12,000—and a string of concert bookings money can’t buy.
Small-label recordings prove that whether Texans are singing ballads, blues, or punk, they make their best music at home.
Small-label recordings prove that whether Texans are singing ballads, blues, or punk, they make their best music at home.
Onstage, all happy lounge acts are alike; offstage, all unhappy lounge acts are unhappy in their own ways.
Joe “King” Carrasco and the Crowns rock New Wave with a Tex-Mex rhythm.
The imminent demise of Austin’s famed music hall already has Texans singing the Armadillo homesick blues.
He came to Austin, Texas, with a guitar on his knee.
The beat goes on in Texas music - from Christopher Cross’s pop ‘n’ roll to the ever-rich rhythm and blues of the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Filmmaker Les Blank focuses on foot-tapping music, down-home cooking, and the vanishing art of having a good time.
How Gordon McLendon stormed Texas with Top 40 . . . da doo ron ron.
New records from Texas’ die-hard country, rock, and punk musicians.
New stars in sight are big and bright—deep in the heart of Texas.
Then grab your platters and step into the golden era of rock ën’ roll.
Neither the Lone Star Café nor Debby Boone is what country music is all about, and a few Texas citizens are trying to set the record straight.
You may have to bar hop to find Austin’s best-kept musical secret-Uncle Walt’s Band. And, presenting the annual Buddy magazine music awards, sealed with a kiss.
His friends say the king of country rock is getting mellow. The question is, mellow compared to what?
Austin City Limits makes pop music on television worth watching-and listening to. Also, musings on the superiority of Metroplex radio.
Houston guitarist Rocky Hill is a rising star; catch him if you can.
And T-shirts and photos and Elvis’ dinner jacket-all at the first Dallas-Fort Worth Records Collectors’ Convention.
Wide-open spaces and prairie madness make the special music of Lubbock.
